RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents & links :: JRL 2019-#42 :: Thursday, 14 March 2019

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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter]Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2019-#41 :: Wednesday, 13 March 2019 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or The George Washington University. JRL Home: russialist.org – JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist – JRL on Twitter: @JohnsonRussiaLi Support for JRL is provided in part by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York to the George Washington University and by voluntary contributions from readers.

1. TASS: Russian statistics agency points to population decline.
2. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, To make Russia great again, Putin is building roads and bridges. Why does Vladimir Putin remain so popular among Russians? One key reason: He is overseeing the construction of a better Russia in the form of new roads, rails, bridges, and other much-needed infrastructure.
3. Foreign Affairs: Chris Miller, Can Putin Fix Russia’s Sputtering Economy? Why Stagnation Is the New Normal.
4. Vedomosti: Russian pundit blames ‘isolationist’ laws for stagnant economy. (Konstantin Sonin)
5. AFP: Russia’s feared mafia leaders in ‘shock’ as Vladimir Putin shows who’s boss.
6. The New Yorker: Masha Gessen, When a Dissident Becomes a Collaborator. (Maria Baronova)
7. Twitter: Michael McFaul, Comment re Maria Baronova.
8. Vedomosti: Russian daily views ‘anthropological’ origin of fake news.
9. Meduza: Public backlash prompts officials in Irkutsk to audit construction of bottling plant that would have exported Lake Baikal water to China.
10. Intellinews.com: “Agro-superpower” Russia will harvest 118mn tonnes of grain in 2019, minister says.
11. Moscow Times: Russia’s Natural Resources Make Up 60% of GDP.
12. Interfax: Audit Chamber Chairman Kudrin in favor of mitigating sanctions through talks.
13. Valdai Discussion Club: Sanctions as the New Normal and Political Determinism in US-Russian Relations.
14. TASS: RBC: US Treasury to clamp down on Russia.
15. www.rt.com: Opium poppy growth to become legal in Russia to counter possible Western sanctions.
16. TASS: Russian major bank’s chief calls Calvey’s arrest an ‘excessive measure’
17. Moscow Times: Ben Aris, Boycotting the St. Petersburg Economic Forum Won’t Free Calvey. Putin can’t be viewed as caving into Western strong-arm tactics.
18. Russia in Global Affairs: Maksim Suchkov, Intel: How Russia is pushing a weapons sale that has roiled US-Turkey relations. – eng.globalaffairs.ru/book/Intel-How-Russia-is-pushing-a-weapons-sale-that-has-roiled-US-Turkey-relations-19978
19. TASS: Kremlin points to US missile-testing plans as proof Washington sought INF breakdown.
20. Wall Street Journal: After Treaty’s Demise, Pentagon Will Develop Two New Midrange Weapons. Missile plans spark a debate over prospect of a new arms race with Russia and China.
21. Asia Times: Stephen Bryen, Did RAND get it right in its war game exercise? Simulations suggest the United States would lose to both Russia and China
22. The Conversation: Stefan Wolff and Tatyana Malyarenko, Ukraine presidential election: young comedian leads polls, but country’s dangerous divisions are no joke.
23. The Real News Network: As Ukraine’s Presidential Race Heats Up, Politics Shift to the Right. A brand new face entered the Ukrainian presidential race, promising to clean up the country’s corrupt politics, but the three main candidates are all pro-West and political discourse has moved to the right as the far-right continues to gain influence. Prof. Tarik Cyril Amar analyzes the situation.
24. Interfax: Ukraine expecting 700 observers, 800 journalists to arrive for presidential election – State Border Service.
25. The National Interest: Luke Coffey, Kazakhstan at the Crossroads. Political instability could open the door for either Beijing or Moscow to expand their influence in Astana.
26. MSNBC.com: Amb. Burns: Trump’s kindness towards Putin seen as weakness by Russians
27. Washington Post: NATO members increase defense spending for fourth year in row following Trump pressure. DJ: Trump delivers yet again for Putin?
28. Salon.com: Lucian K. Truscott IV, Russian spies were all over the 2016 race. They were working for one candidate: Donald Trump. Vladimir Putin had spies on the ground and online, he got them in early and he used them often all for one purpose. (excerpt) – salon.com/2019/03/13/russian-spies-were-all-over-the-2016-race-they-were-working-for-one-candidate-donald-trump/
29. Vesti.ru: Insane Western Journo Lashes Out at Innocent Cat; Believes Feline is Kremlin Agent, Russian Hacker. – Text with video: vesti.ru/doc.html?id=3126216&cid=4441
30. Consortiumnews.com: VIPS: Mueller’s Forensics-Free Findings. The final Mueller report should be graded “incomplete,” says VIPS, whose forensic work proves the speciousness of the story that DNC emails published by WikiLeaks came from Russian hacking. – consortiumnews.com/2019/03/13/vips-muellers-forensics-free-findings/
31. Foreign Policy Research Institute: Robert Hamilton, Russia’s Tragic Great Power Politics. (excerpt) Full text: fpri.org/article/2019/03/russias-tragic-great-power-politics/